#376 Packers Unscripted: Breaking down the Bears

look at the Packers opponent. We started talking about the Chicago Bears quite a bit on yesterday's show, but let's dive a little deeper because when when I look at this, the first thing that jumps out to me is what I like to call something that falls into the something's got to give category, And what I mean by that is Aaron Rodgers has thrown three d and six consecutive

past attempts without without an interception, excuse me. And the Chicago Bears lead the civilized world by a large margin with twenty five interceptions on the season, including seven from Kyle Fuller at corner and five from Eddie Jackson at safety. This is gonna be really really interesting here because if Aaron Rodgers can protect the ball, the Packers chances to win this game go up dramatically. If the Bears start taking it away, their chances rise dramatic, and I think

it goes back to that old adage. You know, you get two takeaways a lot of times, it's going to translate into a win. And for the Packers, you know, last week, it was exactly what they needed. They got their two big takeaways, one late, but still help them put away the football game. Chicago Bears have been doing it all season long, Michael, and I mean you can look at their stats right now where they're at. I mean they have one, two, three, four or five, six, eight, nine, ten,

eleven different guys with an interception. Prince of Mukamara. Gotta give credit to him too. He's kind of turned back the clock a little bit this season, been a really accountable, important piece of that defense. We learned yesterday. Looks like Bryce Callahan is gonna be out here with a foot injury, So that's a that's a ding right there as far as their nickel slot position. But I mean with what Kyle Fuller has done this season seven receptions, Eddie Jackson,

I remember Eddie Jackson. I talked to him, was one of the only people at his podium at the NFL Scouting Combine talking to him and in his path from Alabama. Breaking his leg probably would have been in early maybe not a first round, definitely a second day pick had he not broken his leg. At the end of his his year at Alabama, he goes out for the draft, the Bears take him in the fourth round. Ha ha.

Clinton Dicks was singing his praises as far as what this kid's potential is and now here he is with five interceptions this year to return for a touchdown, Yeah, something has to give. It's gonna be the you know, the security that Aaron Rodgers has had with the football this year against one of the league's top ball hawking defenses. Yeah. You mentioned the foot injury to Bryce Callahan at their

nickel position. And that's an interesting one here because as we see Sunday's game unfold, does that mean Randall Cobb in the slot becomes a big time key receiver here because he's going to have maybe the most favorable matchup. Or do the Packers move Davante Adams into the slot and then see how the Bears react. Are they going to have Kyle Fuller, for example, cover Davantae Adams even when he's in the slot. Are they going to take

their chances with a backup nickel defender. There so kind of an interesting piece to this chess match because of this new injury to Callahan. Yeah, and if you do that, how do the Bears want to defend it? Do you want to have one of the safety is dropping down into the box, you know, covering a receiver out of the slot. All things We're gonna have to figure out.

The important thing I think for the Packers as it's related to Adams specifically, probably over the last six games, is they've moved him around a lot, and he's been effective from a lot of different positions. I don't have all the stats and the splits as far as what is inside outside ratio has been in terms of catches this year, but I think the one thing he has definitely demonstrated in year five is he can do it all.

So I'm sure when you look at Vic Fangio, he's been in this division for several years now, he's watched the maturation and development of Adams, seeing the cat and mouse game there. How he wants to possibly defend him in What that means depending on how much attention you give him, We're gonna have to wait and see. I don't know Honestly, maybe you do. You're more intelligent than

I am. How Kyle Fuller has been exactly deployed this season, if he's played mostly outside, if they've moved him in in man situations, matching situations, all things we're gonna have to learn. At least I'm going to have to. Yeah. I can't say I've watched the Bears enough this year, and certainly not watching enough of the All twenty two type of film where you see exactly how a guy

like Fuller is being deployed. But for everything that the Bears have done in the turnover category on defense this season, the transmission, so to speak, of this Bears defensive engine is that front uh seven, that front group and when you're talking, when you're talking Khalil Mack and a Keem Hicks, they've combined for sixteen sacks I believe it is on the season. But it's not just those sixteen sacks West,

I mean, it's the the constant disruption. I'm not sure how many forced fumbles the two of them have combined for they they seem to be pretty adept at getting the ball out. Is at nine six by Mac five or three by Hicks? Yeah, I mean this, uh, those two guys, and at this point we don't know exactly what the health status is. As we mentioned earlier in the week, as far as the Packers offensive line goes.

But but Mac and Hicks boy that um, it's it's a tandem unlike any other, unlike any that the Packers have seen all years, since week one when Mac made his Bears debut. You know, and obviously I'm not privy to the conversations that the Bears have, but I can only imagine at some point Ryan Pace and Vic Fangio and that coaching staff sat down and figured out, Okay,

what pieces do we need for this defense? Because Mike, if you go from what this unit looked like the day that Vic Fangio was hired onto John Fox's staff to what they look like today, it's pretty incredible. I actually got into a major fight with a fan and insider inbox recently. You had to edit it. Who was who was complaining to me about the Packers draft classes from two thousand and eleven to two thousand and fifteen.

In addition to that being just a completely wide ranging, uh you know, scheme to be trying to figure out, you know, whether or not drafts were successful or unsuccessful based upon whether those players are still on the roster. I immediately threw that back in their face and I mentioned that, well, if you look at the Bears drafts during that time, Bears have like three guys left from those draft classes on the roster right now. I think the Packers had like eight or seven or something like that.

Bears had some lean years where they were not getting productivity. In these last two and a half years for them have been so important because, yeah, you found your Kyle Fuller's who had to bounce back from an injury to to become the player he's become. You drafted ro Kuan Smith. It looks like he's going to be a player in this league for years to come. You had Danny Trevathan sign over from Denver. Now also you had Darrell Freeman that didn't work out. But they sort of did this

paint splatter approach where we're just gonna throw resources. We have a ton of cap space, we're gonna see what sticks. Resigned some of our own guys, maybe trade for Khalil Mack. Have the room to be able to absorb that contract, and they're beginning to see the fruits of that labor.

I don't want to disrespect Mitchell Trobisky at all and what they're doing offensively, but in so many ways, Mike, this really does remind me of that two thousand one Bears team, where they have a suffocating defense and an offense that's going to get them as far as they need to go. If you go back, Mike, over the last ten fifteen years, that's been the blueprint for the Bears when they've made runs. They've never had this completely

unstoppable offense. It's always been based around being able to score more points than the other team. And this year, this defense has allowed them to do that. Yeah, and and I don't want to get too far off the track here in the conversation, but I think what we're seeing here as the regular season winds down two teams in particular in the NFC, the Chicago Bears and the

Seattle Seahawks. What these two teams are doing offensively now, I think Russell Wilson has a little bit more explosiveness in that Seahawks offense than Drabinsky does with the Bears, but the Seahawks also are focused on running the football. We're seeing what is essentially developing as the counter to

the Rams and the Saints and this explosive offenses. So whether the Bears, the Bears are just one victory or one Minnesota loss away from clinching the NFC North of being a division champ in the playoffs and the Seahawks, Seahawks obviously have the inside inside track on that first wild card spot. So we're gonna see these matchups in

the postseasons in in one way or another. As far as these defenses and what they've built over the years, over over the course of the year, versus these explosive offense. I kind of like that where you had the Seahawks. It's like the Boston Mike sid kind of coming out a little bit like voice cracks. It's exciting to talk about. No, I mean the fact that you and I even discussed we started this, this breakdown of the Bears with the defense.

Every week, we always talked about the offense. It just tells you what they bring to the table and what they present. And before I'm sure there's a scattered amount of people out there are still like, well, why didn't the Packers trade for Khalil Mack. I've said this since day one. I give Ryan Pays a lot of credit. He he put his hat out there, he said, this is going to be the move, This is gonna be probably what sinks or swims my time here as the GM,

It's worked out great for them. They also had the cap room to be able to make him the highest paid pass Russia in the NFL. You got to tip your cap in some of those instances because I think Vic Fangio's defense was close. I think Mac has put them over the top. And even with that Mike you see it make a guy like a Cheam Hicks better. I mean Hicks. His stats are going to jump off the page. He has forty seven tackles in six sacks.

But if you watch him operate within that defense and how those two guys play off each other at that front level of the trenches, it fits them really well. Yeah. Well, I want to get back to what you were just talking about with GM Ryan pace in the moves he's made, But I need to take care of a little bit of business here. The powerful noise canceling technology that helps NFL coaches block out eight and screaming fans can get

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the delicious classic chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and asked for Campbell's Chunky Sup Official sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, returning to the discussion of Ryan Pace, you said how much he kind of stuck his neck out there on the Khalil Mac move. He did the same thing with Mr Rubisky. He traded up, just trading up one spot, but it cost him a fair amount of draft capital trading up from the three

spot to the two spot to draft Trubisky. And I was asked in Insider inbox about Okay, so, just how sustainable is this for the Bears? Uh? Because they're obviously they put together a good team. They're going to be in the playoffs this year. What's the what's the longevity of this potential competitive run for them, And I said

it comes down to two things. One, Ryan Pace is going to have to start drafting better than a lot of other teams because the Bears don't have a first round draft pick now until the next two drafts, no first round picks because of the Mac trade. But the other thing that really is going to be potentially even the bigger piece to how long the Bears can sustain this is what is Mr Trubisky ceiling his development. He's only in his second season. He's got a lot of

games under his belt for a second year quarterback. But if his arrow continues to point up and he continues to become the guy that Ryan Pace was so enamored with and so convinced was his guy that he made that trade to get up to number two in the draft in order to take him a couple of years ago, then this can be a This can be sustained for the Chicago Bears. But as it is with any team in the NFL West, it hinge it hinges on the quarterback. The Bears right now have one who is not at

his ceiling yet. The question is what is that ceiling? Yeah, it's a great question. It's the thing. If you have a quarterback under three or four years in the league, you're still trying to figure out I honestly, I think there's some teams. You look at Miami, it's been six years now, they're still trying to see what they have in Ryan Tanner. That's just the game you play if you don't have Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees and these guys that are just on their famous way to the

Hall of Fame. Trabinsky to me, you know, if you go back to Week one, Mike and we did our our preview ended up being the regular season premier. I was really hesitant about him to some regard. I still am someone hesitant about him. But the one thing I'll give him credit for, and I will also give Matt Naggie credit for, is he's playing a lot more free this season. Um. Now, that also goes with a you know,

there's more interceptions this year. There's been some turnovers. I think he's tied for third right now in the NFL, tied for fourth with twelve picks the most last week, right, Yeah, exactly. I mean that was a rough showing, but yet they still did enough to to win that game fifteen to six Trubisky. I think the best thing that they did, and I can't get into all the what played into it, but the fact that Jordan Howard finally had a hundred yard game last week, his first performance of that nature

this season. Tera Cohen has been his number one target out of the backfield. You can sign Allen Robinson, you can sign Taylor Gabriel, you can do all these different things as far as the perimeter weapons, but I think it's pretty obvious that his best friends right now or though, is his backfield. When they get how Weard going, when they get Cohen involved, good things happen for the Bears.

That's where the big emphasis, I think for Mike Petton and this defense has to be being able to show up, not allow, you know, Howard to be able to gush you, you know, kind of bleed you for yards, and keep

Derek Cohen away from those big play opportunities. Because as much as we've talked about all those perimeter weapons and everything they added Anthony Miller through the draft, it's still about the tight end Trey Burton in those two running backs, and you've got to start there if you're gonna stop your Bisky. Yeah, and you mentioned Cohen is is the

Bears leading receiver year in terms of yardage. But I would say the other thing that does make this Bears offense a little bit difficult, not only some of the creative motioning and this and that, and and a handful of trick plays that Matt Naggi has has run throughout the course of this season, but it's kind of an equal opportunity passing game. When you just look at the numbers, I believe it's five different guys with at least thirty

receptions and four hundred yards essentially. Um. Those uh, five different guys with with those kind of numbers, And and you said it. You know, there's Cohen, there's the tight end Burton, you have Gabriel Robinson, and Anthony Miller the rookie wide receiver. We had talked last year the Bears had to do something at wide receiver because as a rookie, Trubisky really didn't have anybody to throw the ball too.

They did that, They completely revamped their receiving corps. And as these guys have continued to to work in this offense and and understand what Naggie wants them to do, and and Traubinsky understanding what his role is. It's it's not an explosive offense, but it's not exactly easy to defend either because the ball can go to so many

different guys. Yeah. Absolutely, And again not to keep throwing comparables back to two thousand one with Jim Miller and what the Bears did that season with Anthony Thomas, but there are I think some of those those direct correlations because it's not like they have a Pro Bowl all Pro type difference maker in this offense. But they get it done and they can win close games, and if you're going to win and make a playoff run, that's

what you have to do. And to be quite honest with you, with Trubisky only being in his second year at twenty four years old, this is the trajectory you expected. You expected them to take a step, but probably still not to be on the cutting edge of a lot of this stuff. So they're doing it the right way in that regard. I think Anthony Miller and used to come is gonna be a real problem for the NFC North. Um. You know, Allen Robinson has been okay for the majority

of this season. Taylor Garbriel has been a safety valve of sorts for him coming out of the slot. But but getting back to what I said originally, I just think that Howard and Cohen, the one thing that they were able to do last year when they didn't have those perimeter weapons as they were really able to establish them as there one to punch. That's your threat. That's where Trubisky is going to be his most comfortable, the

fact that he's been using Cohen. And it's not like he's just getting six yard completions here either, sixty three catches, six seventy nine yards, four touchdowns, a long of seventy. He can make plays. So yeah, that it isn't exactly I think what Atlanta possesses in terms of just the across the board explosiveness, but there's enough there that if the Bears are suffocating you defensively, they're going to be

able to get enough points to win. Yeah. And the one thing that I would say is the X factor with this Bears offense that you really have to pay attention to because there's certainly plenty of film on it to this point as we get into December, and that's the scrambling of Mistrud that's right too. Yes, absolutely, he's got I believe he's closing in on four hundred rushing yards on the season. I think he has three rushing

touchdowns to go with his passing touchdowns. And like I said, I haven't watched a ton of Chicago Bears football this year, but when the Packers were on their bye week, I did sit and watch pretty much start to finish the Bears game against the Patriots. That was that Soldier field and Mr Rubisky just kept tucking the ball and running and I just kept waiting like, Okay, when is this Bill Belichick defense going to adjust and take away the

scrambling Trubisky. Now, the Patriots eventually did win that game, but Trubisky with his scrambling was single handedly keeping the Bears in it and gave them a chance to win that game all the way up until the end. This guy, this guy is dangerous when he runs with the football. He's a good athlete. He's he's savvy and smart with where he runs and when he slides. And I think from the Packers point of view, defensive game plan wise, you don't want to rush Mitch Trubisky to sack him.

You want to rush him to make him throw the ball, because if you try to go after the sacks, he will get away and he will burn you and move the chains with his legs. Yeah, it's incredible, and I'm glad you point that out because I was. I was meaning too about ten minutes ago when I forgot to bring this aspect up of his game, because I think that's when you look at the two running backs and

what they do there. He's the counter to at He can check it down to Cohen, he can tuck it and scramble it, he can find a guy on the perimeter. There's all those different assets than he has available in his fingertips. In a credit to Trabisky, he seems to do a pretty good job of not panicking and being like, Okay, I got aboard the play and scramble. He looks at it much like Aaron Rodgers looks like at it is that if your guy's covered, you're the you're the hat,

you're the unclaimed guy. You know, go and get your yards. And he's been able to do that. The Bears like that about him when they drafted him out of North Carolina. They saw that playmaking ability with him, and it's the thing that can really give you headaches for a defense as the game goes on. So how the Packers planned to attack that? Do you have someone spying him? What kind of concepts are you looking at all things that

Mike Petton's gonna have on the table. But to your original point, rushing to contain him and keeping him in the pocket is going to be one of the big keys I think for the Packers to pull out a victory here. Yeah, I think if the Packers can contain that running game as you mentioned before, and not let Jordan Howard really kind of get rolling downhill, so to speak. You limit the explosive plays of Cohen, whether that's in the running game or the passing game, and you make

Mits Rubinsky throw the ball. And if in December weather in Chicago, now I understand it's not going to be too awfully cold for the middle of December down there on Sunday, But if Mitch Drubisky is going to beat you with his arm, then you tip your cap to him, but you don't let him. Don't don't let him just bail himself out by running for first down. The Packers have to be smart with uh with how they rush him. And how they get pressure on him. And I think

the big thing too is the pressure Mike. I mean you look at some of these matchups. I'm gonna take for example, that Detroit game from a little over a month ago. Now, he threw for three five yards and three touchdowns and the Lions were only able to get to him once in that game. Uh. The Bears are banged up on their offensive line. They lost Kyle Long

for the year that they've had to weather. I think Eric cushes out too, So I mean being able to generate some pressure against that front and make things uncomfortable for Rubinsky. Um, this is a big challenge for Mike Petton. As much as we're gonna talk about Joe Philbin and Aaron Rodgers and to find ways to get to Vic Fangio's defense defensively, the Packers doing this same thing too,

Trabiski and company is going to be really important. Yeah, well it's I think it's going to be a whale of a football game Packers Bears in December, with as much on the line as there is, it should be a fun one. But for now we're gonna call it a wrap on this edition of Packers unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com on Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.